RIVERSIDE – A cross-country truck driver who pled guilty in Texas to a 1992 murder has pled not guilty in Riverside County in the cold case murder of a woman found off Interstate 10 in Desert Center.

On March 30, 1993, the body of Sherri Herrera, 30, a mother of four from Tulare, Calif., was discovered on the eastbound Hayfield Road on-ramp to I-10 in Desert Center. She was last seen alive just days before her body was found.

In May 2022, Texas Rangers arrested Douglas Thomas, DOB: 7-5-1954, after DNA evidence linked him to the April 1992 murder of a woman in Titus County, Texas. Thomas worked as a truck driver for more than 40 years and traveled extensively across the United States. He was later convicted in that case and sentenced to 40 years to life in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Thomas’s DNA also matched evidence recovered in the Herrera investigation. Detectives with the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team traveled to Texas to interview Thomas about Herrera’s murder.

Following their investigation, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office charged Thomas with the 1993 murder of Herrera. Prosecutors also filed a special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a rape.

Although Thomas is serving his Texas sentence, the Riverside County DA’s Office initiated the Interstate Agreement on Detainers process with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. This legal process allows California authorities to take custody of Thomas despite his Texas incarceration, ensuring he will face justice in Riverside County.

Thomas was booked at Riverside County Robert Presley Detention Center on Aug. 25 and pled not guilty on Sept. 10 at Riverside Hall of Justice. His Felony Settlement Conference is scheduled for Dec. 3.

The case, RIF2202776, is being prosecuted by Deputy DA Tim Mulhere of the DA's Homicide Trial Team and was investigated by the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team (RCCHT) which is comprised of members of the DA's Office Bureau of Investigation, the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's Office, and the Riverside Police Department.